So What Happened?The Devils shutout the Altanta Thrashers 3-0 as Marty earned his second straight shutout and his 600th win of his career. Surprisingly, the Thrashers faithful brought out the boo birds for Kovalchuk in his first return to Atlanta since being traded back in February. It didn’t seem to get to Kovalchuk, even though he was left off the scoresheet for the night. Devils offense did a good job with oppurtunities although the powerplay didn’t produce any goals. The defense looked outstanding as they completely shut down Atlanta, especially in the final period giving up only 2 shots on goal. With the Devils winning, the Atlanta Thrashers are officially elminated from the playoff race.

Who Scored?Dean McAmmond (7), Zack Parise (37) and Travis Zajac (24)

Any Surprises During The Game?In my opinion no. The guys that Altanta got in the Kovalchuk trade have done well for them since arriving but the Thrashers were a lot more to fear when Kovalchuk was on their side.

Any Other Thoughts?Marty has been outstanding lately. In the last 4 games, he’s faced 105 shots and stopped all but two of them. He was less than a minute away from getting shutouts against Boston and Chicago and those late goals were more on the defense than on Marty. For the Devils, this is where you want to see Marty. If Marty can get scorching hot going into next week, it could be a nice long run.

Any change in the standings?The Capitals did the Devils a favor tonight handing the Penguins a loss and giving NJ a 2 point lead in the standings for 2nd overall although the Penguins have games against non-playoff teams remaining. Devils have Florida, the Islanders (who we don’t do well against) and Buffalo remaining so 2nd isn’t locked up yet.